The Twin

 The Twin

Reviewed By  Janet Mawdesley       July 6, 2025

 

Author  Amanda Brookfield

Distributor:      Amazon
ISBN:                 9781835614518
Publisher:         Boldwood Books
Release Date:   3 July 2025  

   Website:   https://www.amazon.co.uk/Twin-heart-wrenching-perceptive-poignant-Brookfield

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Emotional and heart wrenching The Twin from Amanda Brookfield captures the deep love that binds twins along with the passive aggressive nature that often is part of being a twin.

The twins are adored by their beautiful mother from the very day of their birth: they are charmed and charming, Cath being the slightly older, Rob the gentler of the two. Since the first day of school Catherine has always protected Rob from the school bullies.

A fractured childhood with the death of their beloved mother, a remarriage of their father to a woman they knew well but who had no love for them and the birth of their stepbrother Oliver only made this protective instinct of Cath’s stronger. She is openly defiant; Rob follows in his sisters’ footsteps.

As the years pass this protective instinct rises each time life sends them a challenge until it becomes commonplace to Cath and a bit of an issue for Rob, especially once he marries.

We meet Cath going to Robs funeral, devastated, bitter, hurting, angry, and inconsolable. So begins a reckoning long overdue as her stepbrother Oliver has come to the funeral, invited but unwanted, at least by Cath.

Weeks later Cath finds she is no closer to accepting Rob’s death, allowing her grief to colour very aspect of her life, to the point where she is destroying her own relationship with Alastair, a man who loves her unconditionally but finds the burden of her grief overwhelming.

Deeply perceptive to the inner workings of family Amanda Brookfield has captured with grace the destruction than can be caused when death occurs and the ability to rebuild if only it is allowed, as Cath faces the loss of her relationship, the death of her father and the retelling by Oliver of his life as a young boy.

While The Twin is a challenging read, it draws to a careful conclusion with Cath eventually understanding that there comes a time in life when you must confront your reality and accept that all is not as it appears to be.

Fiction, General